The Boulder College of Massage Therapy will host its final classes next week after school leaders agreed to follow state recommendations and close the institution because of lingering financial problems, officials say.

The closure comes on the heels of a directive from the Colorado Division of Private Occupational Schools to do so as a result of "multiple factors related to the financial health of the school the past several years," according to an email distributed to students this week.

"The school was unable to overcome a constellation of issues related to its previous years of financial losses and the decrease in value of the real estate asset, the BCMT campus," the email reads.

The final day of classes at the school, 6255 Longbow Drive in Gunbarrel, will be June 14. The school will celebrate its final graduation June 16.

Dirk McCuistion, a Boulder College of Massage Therapy graduate and founder of MassageSpecialists.com, was named the school's president in January 2012.

Facing increased competition and decreasing enrollment in 2009, school leaders chose to shorten its traditional 1,000-hour program to 760 hours, a move that instantly cut annual tuition revenue 24 percent, McCuistion said. That resulted in financial hemorrhaging for the nonprofit school.

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Colorado BondShares had loaned the school $4.65 million to purchase its Gunbarrel building and other expenses in 2006, McCuistion said. When he took over as president, the school still owed $4.35 million on that loan for a building that, following the collapse of the real estate market, is now valued at $2.8 million.

McCuistion and other administrators reinstated the 1,000-hour program and raised enrollment, but attempts to renegotiate the terms of its bond fell short.

He said the school negotiated three deals with potential buyers earlier this year to keep the school where it is that were shot down by Colorado BondShares. Two additional deals to sell the school's intellectual property -- while leaving the building, furniture and equipment -- fell through.

Naropa University, a potential buyer in two of the deals, decided last week not to purchase the intellectual property, and the Division of Private Occupational Schools on Monday informed Boulder College of Massage Therapy officials that the school should close.

"(The state) felt there was too much risk and financial exposure and, despite the fact I disagree with them, they decided it would be the best thing for the students to immediately enroll in a teach-out program at another school," he said, adding he does not blame Colorado BondShares. "Lenders deserve to be paid for loans that they make. It was a contract, and based on circumstances -- some within the school's control, an some beyond it, such as the decline in the real estate market -- this unfortunate situation happened."

All continuing Boulder College of Massage Therapy students now have the option to transfer or take part in a teach-out of the remaining portion of their program at the Colorado School of Healing Arts in Lakewood. Officials from the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, the state and the Lakewood school held a meeting with students Friday to explain the closure and their options.

Boulder College of Massage Therapy student J.D. Avallone, who will soon complete the third quarter of an 800-hour program at the school, said the news about the school's abrupt closure was "hurtful."

"The most shocking part is how quickly it was happening," he said. "Our teachers and my classmates who have families and children -- the impact it will have on the course of their lives is probably the most distressing."

Avallone said he first heard about the Boulder College of Massage Therapy while working at a healing arts center in Massachusetts. His employer at the time told him it was a top school, and he said he hopes it is not the end of the line for a program he enjoys and instructors he respects greatly.

"My heart is invested in BCMT, and I would like to continue studying with our teachers and our staff if that is at all possible," Avallone said.

McCuistion suggested that may be possible.

"The current administration, staff and faculty are exploring the possibility of starting another school," he said. "I think the BCMT has been a really important force in Boulder County, and I don't think it's going to end here."

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